"Drinkin' and gamblin' is fun and all, but we do have places to be," Mirax muttered over her drink.  She cast a glance towards Kal and the Dug - and his new friend for that matter. "Hey, how about we head off after that race, hmm?  If the Dug won't take us, we can always do it your way, Kal."

After listening to the Transdoshan speak with the Dug in Dosh Claire begins to feel a little sorry for the drunken lout.  She leans over to Kal and whispers to him, _{"I do believe our Dug friends are smugglers.  And by agreeing to take us, they just lost a lucrative run.  Their lives may now be at risk.  Transdoshans don't like taking no for an answer.  Anyhow, I think you ought to say something to him to lift his spirits."}

Kal let a slight smile crease his lips at Claire's words. He had faith that she would be significant asset on this mission, and her reading of the situation for him may be quite beneficial.  He nodded to her and responded to her quietly. _{"Thanks. I will do so at an opportune time. Might also be best if we ask him about it once we're on the ship."}

Kal smiled at the Dug and asked. "So when's this race start? I can't wait to see how much your racer wins by."

For the first time today, Claire flips up the sunshield on the helmet of her armored flight suit.  The sunshield is a silver-coated tinted sheet of plastic that flips down over the plaststeel faceplate of flight suits to protect the wearer from staring into the harmful glare of a sun.  It has also effectively concealed her face.  Though Kal or anyone would know what Claire looked like from reading her personal profile file created when she got her Republic bountyhunter's license, her appearance is something she has been trying to keep secretive.

Now with her face revealed, Kal gets a good glimpse of Claire's scarred face, and the cybernetic eye shining a dissettling red from the left side of her face.  Rather than speak out loud, she mouths the words to him, "Don't ask them.  Pretend we don't know."

With a smirk and subtle nod of his head, Kal affirms that he understood what Claire was getting at. His eyes lingered on hers for a few moments longer before returning to their drunken Dug friend.

The betting girl took Kal's money and gave him a voucher for the dug's clansman giving the Kal ample time to see the racers lurch forward as the signal goes off.

One of the racers, are Quarren, is determined to win at all cost, takes an obvious distracting pot shot at one of the other racers. The shouts from the crowd go up a picth as the other racer makes his own counter attack, this time however, the shot hits the Quarren's pod, causing it to spit out of controle and into one of the jagged rock barriers. A the wookie takes the lead.. missing the debree from the Quarren's pod by a comfortable margin, but a dug racer isn't far behind.

The vidcast goes for a shot from the stands, as another racer's pod is forced into the rocks down below, sparks fly in every direction, the crowd absolutely rivited. Other racers pass the troubled pilot by. The next few turns offer nice lava river jump, which none of the racers miss, though a good deal manage to swerve dangerously close to the chasm's gaping maw.

Everyone around the room looks on with baited breath as one of the pods seems to freefall towards the racing pods below. Up in the droid control stands, none of the racers seem to have noticed the incident until it was too late. The two leading pods suddenly veer to contour a strange ghost shape in their vizors...

What followed was spectacular to behold... both pods whose trajectories would have flattened the freefalling racer veered in seperate directions, the crowd barely having a chance to sigh in relief before the pods hit the sand. Was the pilot injured, in distress? No one knew for certain, but everyone was on the edge of their seats... all eyes were suddenly on the lead racer who was suddenly passes by pod 53. A flurry of blaster bolts hit the lead car as the pod passed, causing the leader to veer even more perilously towards one of the many jutting rocks. The pilot, knowing full well that he was about to lose the race, decided to seal the Dug's fate. Bursts of fire assault pod 53 and the dug goes off screaming into the sands...

The general screams and shouting from the crowd (and room) was deafening and the now absolutely estatic spectators were cheering wildly. Your dug friend however through his cup at the screen with a growl.

[Private to Kal Wennyn: How much did you bet?]

Kal got a chagrined look on his face, but then when the Dug started chucking things around, Kal followed suit, tossing a cup toward the screen that fell woefully short. He turned to the dug and took a deep breath. "Although I share in your financial pain, it wasn't my clan member that went into the stands. I hope he's alright." Kal looked around to the others and then back to the dug. "Well, looks like the race is done. Maybe we can share a drink aboard the ship, commiserate over our respective loss of credits and use your shipboard systems to check the holonet for news of his recovery or lack thereof. Shall we?" Kal gestured toward the door and stood to leave.

[Private to GM: I had stated a wager of 500 credits.]

The Dug reluctantly agrees but follows the group out of the Kiss and into the cool Coruscanti night air. As he navigates through the shipping district's streets, you find out that the Dug is named Veturba. He's also the Black Comet's co-pilot and chief engineer.

"The plan is to set out at 0900 and head straight for Koshibal - well, as straight as one can get," Veturba explains, a little more coherent now that the drinks and creds have stopped flowing. "Ya see, any direct hyperspace path to Koshibal is blocked by a large asteroid field, which takes so long to go around, that no freighter wants to do it. But Pugwis doen't have a problem with a two-tiered hyperspace jump, dropping out of light-speed and navigting through the asteroid belt manually, then re-entering hyperspace for the rest of the trip to Koshibal. It's going to be very dangerous - but since few are willing to make the tip, Pugwis can get excellent prices on his shipments…"

The Dug slows down, at a fork in the road and scrutinizes the darkness of one of the alleys, it's ears twitching and expression pensive. He hesitates for a moment and then waves it off on a shrug. "We're almost there," he adds before continuing on his way.
This message was last edited by the GM at 16:16, Fri 11 Feb 2011.

Kal followed the Dug on his way to the ship and nodded at his commentary, "Yes, I imagine he can get great prices for shipments there. Well, in the few situations that sentients actually want to send something to that particular planet anyway. In any case, I'm glad we're flying with a pair of experts."

"Hah! People want to send stuff there all the time... it's in Hutt space - and VERY out of the way. It's a haven for people who don't want to be found... and a great deal of profitable opportunies crop up there," you get a sense that the opportunities the Dug is alluding to aren't quite legal.

Claire watched the Podrace with only mild interest.  Podracing these days aren't what they used to be.  There never used to be blasters used in a Podrace.  The speed and hazards of the course were enough to make it a dangerous sport.  They didn't need to have people gunning for them.  But "Hutt Rules" seem to have spread in the past couple decades.  And "Hutt Rules" go "Whatever most amuses the Hutt is legal".  Hopefully, such freedom with the rules won't spread to her beloved Dosh Battle Ball.  There the rule since ancient times have only allowed close physical combat.  Projectiles, thrown, and dropped weapons have always been strictly against the rules.  To use a Blaster in Dosh Battle Ball?  Well if that ever became legal, Claire would turn assassin and go gunning for all the judges.

And so her mind turns toward the thought to going gunning for someone.  The Dug, Veturba, has turned down Transdoshians.  Knowing the race intimately as she does, Claire knows they don't like being said no to.  Putting herself in their clawed feet, she would rough up or kill Veturba to send a message to Pugwis that nobody says no to me.  Believing then that Veturba's life is now in danger, Claire begins to think of herself as his bodyguard, just one of four.  While the others may be foolish enough to walk side-by-side with Veturba where they could get blown up by a rocket or grenade attack, Claire hangs back and follows from a distance.  This way if they pick up another tail, she's there to deal with that extra tail.
21:17, Today: Claire de la Croix rolled 12 using 1d20+7 with rolls of 5. Perception.
This message was last edited by the player at 05:18, Sun 13 Feb 2011.

Mirax stuck closer to the group.  She noted the conversation and what was said, but had little to add herself.  She cringed inwardly a bit at the mention of an Asteroid Belt.  Due to their nature, they were incredibly dangerous to navigate.  She had only been through one twice before, and both times were harrowing journeys.  She was not looking forward to that part, especially since she wouldn't be the one flying.

Mirax did note the Dug's hesitation, and took it as a sign of potential danger.  Unlike the others, she had a more effective means of discovering if this was true.  She reached out, and touched the Force, using it to sense her surroundings, and search for any sort of tail they may have picked up.

22:12, Today: Mirax Bey rolled 26 using 1d20+15 with rolls of 11. Sense Surroundings (Assuming DC 15) -> ignore cover and concealment for Perception checks
22:13, Today: Mirax Bey rolled 25 using 1d20+10 with rolls of 15. Perception check, search surroundings.

Kal nodded at Veturba's explanation. "I hadn't realized that routes there were in such high demand. I suppose we're lucky to have found you, then. So what role do you play in developing these opportunities? Or does your captain handle all those sorts of things?"

In reply to Mirax Bey (msg #146):

[Private to Mirax Bey: Your senses start screaming at you, you have seconds to react. Roll initiative, but give it to me in a PM. I'm giving a free action that you can RP.]

In reply to Claire de la Croix (msg #145):

[Private to Claire de la Croix: You notice nothing.]

All of a sudden, it was like being dropped into a nest of angry Rancors.  Her danger sense screaming at her, Mirax moved in a blur.  "Scatter!" she yelled fearing a grenade or rocket of some kind.  Regardless of what it was, being bunched up was bad.  As she yelled, she whirled her cloak off, and pulled one of her lightsabers from her belt.  In an instant, the green blade came to life in her hand, raised to defend against whatever threat they were presented with.

"Think of it this way," Vertuba started explaining as he continued down the street, "whatever you can do to sneak in several tons or whatever a hutt is willing to pay for, and shave two weeks..." he said, starting explaining why routes were in such a high demand, but Mirax suddenly lit her lightsaber, warning everyone of some impeding danger, just as a deadly bolt of liquid energy screamed past Claire and Mi, towards the surprised Dug in front of the group.

With bare nanoseconds to spare, the shot was deflected by the Jedi's expert reflexes and ricocheted off the duracrete wall. The Dug blinked, not quite understanding what had just happened in the liquor induced stupor that followed, and simply stared at the wall in wonder, mouth agape.



Initiative everyone


Initiative - Round 0

27 Mirax & Claire
24 Sniper & Vertuba
09 Kal
-- Mi Truev


This message was last edited by the GM at 02:58, Thu 17 Feb 2011.

Kal had the discipline of a soldier, even though he hadn't ever been a rank-and-file, gun toting member of the republic armed forces. He would have responded to a command like that without a thought from a superior officer, and he trusted the Jedi as much or more. Without hesitation, he pushed the Dug away from him, and then looked for some cover of his own.

The attack and the timing of it really came as no surprise to Claire.  She had been expecting this sort of thing ever since they left The Rodian's Kiss.  What did come as something of a surprise was the directionality of the attack.  Transdoshians prefer to send their message from a distance that's a bit more close up and personal.  But a sniper shows a different mind behind the attack.  The Transdoshians were just the first messengers.  This new message has a new messenger.  This shows a greater organization than just a group of Transdoshians.  And here Claire was hoping Transdoshians wouldn't demean themselves to being someone's thugs.  She prefer to see them stand up for themselves and be their own thugs.  Oh well, at least she made a good call by hanging back from the group.  She's at least closer to where the attacker is.

16:11, Today: Claire de la Croix rolled 27 using 1d20+9 with rolls of 18. Initiative.

Initiative - Round 1

27 Mirax & Claire
24 Sniper & Vertuba
22 Mi Truev
19 Gangers
09 Kal




So far, the team was up against what appeared to be a lone sniper, but the Jedi scanned the darkness nervously[Private to Mirax Bey:  (you feel several presences around you, but something about half a dozen of them further behind you seem to be up to the thrill of a hunt)]. You're hard pressed in figuring out exactly where the shot came from, surrounded as you are by buildings and shadows.

Mirax and Claire may act.


This message was last edited by the GM at 02:47, Sun 20 Feb 2011.

Not sure if it applies, but I did make a roll for my talent 'Double Agent' (page 22 of Clone Wars). Result is a 17 (on a natural 1) so even if it applies, it probably fails, but I'm supposed to make that roll at the same time as initiative anytime we enter combat. It is a 17 (Deception) vs. opponent's will (if opponent is within LOS)
This message was last edited by the player at 03:54, Thu 17 Feb 2011.

Mirax was already on the move, not about to let their quarry get away - although it didn't seem like that was going to happen.  She bolted past Claire and the Blood Carver, back towards the sniper.  At the very least, she was placing herself between the sniper and his target, the Dug.  She hoped a Jedi would make a more enticing target, since she actually had the means to defend herself.  Trusting the others to keep their ward safe, Mirax spread out her senses again, to pierce the darkness and the other beings around, to search out her target.

Move full 6 squares in the direction of the shot - back the way we came.
Force: Sense Surroundings to ignore cover/concealment
22:51, Today: Mirax Bey rolled 35 using 1d20+15 with rolls of 20. UTF, Sense Surroundings.
Perception: 'Retry'; rather, look more closely for the sniper, now that we know he is there somewhere.
22:53, Today: Mirax Bey rolled 29 using 1d20+10 with rolls of 19. Perception.

Kal: [Private to Kal Wennyn: I'll let you use the double agent card. What I was looking for is to see if there was a distance limit to the LOS effect, which it doesn't seem to have. That said, since thugs are coming into play after, they weren't within LOS, and aren't affected.]

After a few tense heartbeats, Mirax searches the darkness and heights for the sniper. She gets a good sense of his direction and at what elevation he's at, but he's well hidden. Suddenly another shot goes off, and Mirax notices the window light-up a bright red as the bolt screams out of the nozzle.


[Private to Mirax Bey: 21:54, Today: Secret Roll: Power of the Darkside rolled 29 using 1d20+11 with rolls of 18. Sniper Shot #2.

You have to beat 29 to deflect that one this time.]

I'll Update with Results and Vertuba's move once this is settled.

PM

[Private to GM: 22:05, Today: Mirax Bey rolled 23 using 1d20+15 with rolls of 8. Deflect.

So, when the damage comes up, roll a Negate Energy (Force Check must beat damage; if so its negated, if not, I take half) for me.  Or I can do it if you want.]

In reply to Mirax Bey (msg #160):

[Private to Mirax Bey: 22:22, Today: Power of the Darkside rolled 21 using 3d8+5 with rolls of 8,5,3. Potential Dam. ]